Soooo in other news, I sort of fell off the Me Made May map. At least the one on the internets. I’ve actually been wearing me-mades about six days a week (I even made an entirely me-made outfit because I lost my brain while packing for my trip to California and ran out of clothes on day three!) but being on vacation made it strangely difficult to remember to take photos of said outfits.

-Some knits > other knits. I’m banned from every buying tissue knits again but I definitely need more knit tops. And bottoms.

-My number one go-to garment is leggings. I made a really great pair of black Virginia leggings out of this awesome moisture-wicking fabric I got on eBay and it’s probably the number 1 most worn item in my closet. The problem is I’m highly lacking in tops that cover my bum enough to wear with just leggings.

-I need moar Netties! I made one and I’m hooked. I’m foreseeing at least two crops, two bodysuits, and two dress versions. I made mine with the scoop front and mid scoop back and it’s scrumptious. I want to try a high neck/super low back version for sure. Maybe even a sleeveless one!

-No more dresses. Ok, that’s unrealistic. But I think my current dress to separates ratio is something like 5:1 and it really needs to be more like 1:5.

-Maxi skirts are my new favorite thing. I think I could live in maxi skirts and cropped Netties. Or maxi dresses! Knit maxi-dresses are the exception to the previous rule because they’re actually wearable to work.

Things I learned this week:
– I need more knit tops. Enter Nettie and Renfrew and possibly some knit Wiksten tanks.
-Sewing knits is actually kind of fun. Except tissue knits. Those can go die in a fire.
– I need maxi skirts in my life.
– I should make some simple summery skater skirts to wear with aforementioned Netties.
– My go-to me-made work outfit is jeans and a Datura. I didn’t actually know that about myself.

The first day was easy. This is one of my favorite outfits, and it’s work appropriate. Double yay! I think I might have to alter this top though. It’s a little on the smaller side so I might slash the sides and add panels of black lace.

Whoops, I cut off my shoes. Anyway, I’m pretty sure I love this dress even more than I did when I first made it. I put it on for the first time in months and I swear it’s drapier and way more flattering than I remember it being.

And then I spent Sunday in undies and one of Boyfriend’s shirts. Whoops.

Heh. I made a big deal of limiting my Me Made May photos to Instagram this year and here’s day 2 making an appearance on the blog. Whoops.

In my defense, this dress is special. This was one of the first everyday dresses I ever made and I actually still love it. It’s not the most well-made garment ever but it’s wearable. The bias stitching is totally off, the side zipper is atrocious, and it’s made of quilting cotton, but somehow it’s still one of my favorites.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I got an email from Michal Golan Studios that made me squee inside and then laugh out loud. Not only had they noticed my inclination for lady-like glitzy jewelry and offered to send me a few pieces, they also started up a (still ongoing) email conversation about classic computer/video games. I chose these gorgeous heart-shaped earrings and proceeded to completely fail at focusing my camera. Seriously though, new favorite earrings. They’re beautifully hand-made and I’ve been wearing them pretty much everyday because they go with everything. Also they have an entire line of heart-shaped jewelry. You can check out their store here and a post featuring me and the fabulous Miss OonaBalloonahere.

And now I should probably go find some pants. So far Me Made May ’14 has taught me that Elisalex either needs yet more tweaking or just doesn’t fit my bust-shape at all and that I need to make more pajamas in order to participate. And that my next goal in life is to make sixteen Netties in favorites colors and lengths and just have that be my wardrobe.

Yayyy it’s May! I participated in Me Made May last year but it ended up being a bit of a failure. Technically I pretty much wore my Madeline mini-bloomers most days so that was me-made, but that’s not really the point, is it?

This year I’m going to try to do something a little different. My closet is getting a little out of hand. There are so many garments that I either never wear or are hidden under things that I never wear and have been forgotten. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the idea of having a mostly handmade wardrobe and I think the first step is going through and getting rid of all of the stuff I have made that I never wear. (Or the stuff that I should probably stop wearing because I made it ages ago and my sewing standards are higher now.)

So this month I’m going to make a point of trying to wear everything I’ve made that’s currently taking up space in my closet. If I feel icky wearing it or if I just don’t find the occasion to wear it, it’s out. Depending on what it is that means recycling the materials, donation, or putting it in a box to be stored.

Sidenote: I think a huge part of the reason I failed last year was because I had planned on taking actual fancy-camera photos of my outfit every day and that just wasn’t feasible. So this year I’m just going to go with Instagrammed mirror photos and maybe a roundup on the blog once a week.

‘I, Ping of peneloping.com, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’14. I endeavor to wear at least one piece of me-made clothing each day for the duration of May 2014’